Education in Malaysia: Educating for Inclusive-Holistic Growth, Political Needs…?—The Transformation of Vernacular and Particularised Education towards Integration into “Malaysian Education”

摘要

From the British colonial period and henceforth after independence, educa tionists have striven to unify the divided and “particularised” education structures that were taking firm roots in plural Malaya and thenceforth, Malaysia. The primary focus as boldly enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, the na tional ideology statement—the Rukun Negara, the National Education Phi losophy (NEP) and by the constant reminders and promptings of our found ing fathers, was national integration of the ethnically and culturally diverse society. The aspiration of “sejahtera” (well-being) as propounded in the nation’s NEP, seen together with the United Nations’ SDGs (sustainable development goals), towards Education 2030, clearly points to the urgent need for further effort towards inclusive and quality education. The discussion on the prevalent, divided education system, attempting to answer the main research questions, centres on mother-tongue vernacular education and other sub-set education structures, such as the religious and “one-race” schools. These have inevitably with the course of decades, contributed to social disunity. It is found that educators emphasise that transformation and integration , and not the termination of these education sub-sets, into mainstream education, with a strong implementation of the national language and English in the school curriculum. This can help evolve Malaysian education into a globally reputed education system. Educationists are also of the view that it can be then an effective bonding tool for national unity. Language, religion, and literature subjects can be conducted in the mother-tongue languages within the ambit of the national education philosophy. In-depth one-to-one interviews of higher primary school learners, were found to have sparse knowledge in the Malay- national language and English, in topical knowledge areas in Science, Moral Education, common knowledge concepts, and common civility greetings. Suc cessful working models of education of certain plural societies towards na tional integration, provide constructive lessons for the constructive re-hauling of education in Malaysia.